Forced adoption refers to past practices that aimed to separate single mothers from their babies. These practices predominantly took place between the 1950s and 1970s but also occurred outside of this time period. The effects of forced adoption are deep and far-reaching, causing long-lasting pain to mothers, adopted people and fathers who were separated.
Eastern Health has reflected on the organisation’s involvement in historical forced adoption practices and policies and provides the apology below acknowledging the pain and trauma experienced as a result of these past practices and expressing regret for our part in them. We thank the members from the forced adoption community who gave their valuable time to guide our reflection and support the development of the apology below.
Eastern Health apologises for historical forced adoption practices
‘With profound sorrow and remorse, we offer you our unreserved apology.
Eastern Health acknowledges and apologises unreservedly for pain, trauma, unresolved grief and suffering experienced by mothers, adult adoptees, fathers, and families in relation to past forced adoption practices that involved our health services.
We acknowledge our past role in what is seen now as the unethical removal of children from their mothers that occurred at facilities that were, or are now, part of Eastern Health.
We sincerely apologise to the mothers whose babies were forcibly removed for adoption while in our care. We acknowledge and are deeply sorry for the significant lifelong harm, loss of relationships, and deep and lasting trauma you experienced and continue to live with. We recognise you were denied your human rights and suffered greatly.
To those who were adopted or removed from your mothers and families while in our care, we are deeply sorry. We apologise for your loss of relationships, the denied opportunity to grow-up with your family and to connect with your origins and culture. We acknowledge that many of you continue to struggle with the lifelong impact of these practices of the past.
To fathers and all kin relationships who were excluded from the lives of those forcibly adopted, we are sorry. We acknowledge your pain and loss and sincerely apologise.
We recognise the ongoing effect forced adoption has on the generations of family who continue to live with the deep sense of loss and sustained sorrow and anger, as a result of forced adoption.
To First Nations people within our community, we acknowledge the ongoing impact of intergenerational trauma from historical policies and practices. We are committed to recognising the diverse histories of our communities and to working together to ensure equitable access to culturally safe and responsive health care.
We are committed to ensuring that the denial of human rights, as occurred in the forced adoption era, is never repeated. We have and will continue to improve our processes and systems to prevent this from happening again.
For those who experienced the impact of historical forced adoptions at our hospitals, we are deeply sorry.
We welcome your contact, so we can provide support, linkage to specialist services and as much information as we can about your delivery or birth. A specific Freedom of Information (FOI) form is available on the Eastern Health website.
To avoid causing further distress to individuals seeking access to historical medical records, please note that for reasons beyond our control, our records may not be complete. We are committed to doing our very best to assist with this where we can.’
Information on forced adoption specialist services can be found